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Numbered List 0-50
0: The context. It's a low magic fantasy world. In D&D terms, it's E6 and there is no divine magic. There might be priests and religion, but priests know magic because they are educated, not because their gods grant them powers. All magic is arcane and its casters have different styles, methods, traditions, and philosophies: magic can do a lot of things, but a single caster can't do all of them. Slow rituals, alchemical items, and expendable charms predominate. I want trade and traders to be vitally necessary (and of course piracy will follow), so no permanent matter creation or teleportation (at least, no teleporting farther or faster than you could have run on foot, so blinking is OK). 1: The world is covered with a thick layer of heavy toxic gas. Islands of civilization exist on mountaintops that protrude above the toxic vapor that pools in the valleys and lowlands like a sea of thick, lime green fog. Mountain ranges are archipelagos. There is no flight magic or flying creatures larger than an albatross above the toxic vapor, due to the thinness of the air. Below the vapor, it's a different story. 2: Because of the isolated nature of the civilization pockets, trade is slow and difficult. Unless you belong to or hire the Balloon Corp., you can only really travel between pockets during certain windy seasons that make openings in the gas along mountain passes. Thus traders tend to be either lonely or traveling families. 3: The Balloon Corp. is the exception to this normality. Through techniques that they guard with lethal tenacity, they have created vessels that can bob across the surface of the dense poison gas. Using tiny sails for control (you need less sail when not in water), they can make regular trips between pockets. They dominate trade, and can easily pressure the leaders of communities with embargo. 4: Evidence suggests that the world was not always this way. Such windy gusts have revealed ancient, mildewed ruins in lowland places. Some of them have revealed texts which suggest the use of long-forgotten magics whose effects bear a disturbing resemblance to the green fog... 5: The Unmakers are a group who, believing the green fog to be an artifice, believe there to be a way to undo it. They were founded by the executor of elven mage Celey Besaelethril, whose studies through his long life led him to this conclusion. Edit: Their membership includes many students of magic, a plurality of whom are elven. 6: Though the toxic clouds are inimical to species above the Fog Line, life still continues below, strange though it might be. Balloon Corp. members file rare reports of vast and indistinct shapes moving below the surface, or more commonly, brag in taverns about their encounters. Errant winds occasionally reveal gently swaying copses of what might be (at a stretch) considered large plants...or fungal fruiting bodies, filamentaeous mineral "trees" or physical manifestations of mortal sin, depending on who you speak to about the subject. 7: In the theocracy of Anuar, the gods themselves walk among the people. A trinity of gods is said to live in the forbidden temple overlooking the city, wherein they oversee the affairs of the country by way of their priests. There are frequent reports of them having come forth across the centuries to protect, destroy, or bless large portions of the city, depending on the time period, although it seems that at times their personalities can warp or even swap across time... Spoilers: A trio of adventurers who found a powerful set of artifacts giving them godlike powers. When the "gods" get old, the artifacts are passed on to successors chosen in various ways. 8: Due to the alpine nature of settlements, soil quality is poor and self-sufficiency extremely difficult to achieve. A secretive order of alchemists and wizards known as Agersians, who have the knowledge to improve soil and seeds, use their influence to extract heavy tribute and to crush those who refuse them special privileges. 9: The greatest priests and scholars of the Grayhair Peaks have devised a suit of magical armor that allows its wearer to see and breath in the miasma. Such suits are rare and highly expensive, and most often used to recover trade goods after a balloon goes down within sight of a mountaintop settlement. If there really are ancient secrets hidden in the miasma, an adventurer would need such a suit to find them. 10: Those who are tasked to venture into the miasma are known as Descenders, and are often consulted by both scholars and townsfolk about anything they have seen. They often do not comment to anyone but those who usually employ them, as a caveat for being able to use the armour. 11: Every other generation, an expedition into the miasma is organised by a particularly wealthy or foolish settlement to chart lands far under the fog. In all of recorded history, only three expeditions have returned, and only one has succeeded in creating a map, though its credibility is debatable. 12: The kingdom of Imtaraya, once a marginal alpine land, is now the largest stretch of habitable territory in the known world. In days ancient beyond memory, its surface was inhabited by a tribe of humans who left their name to the place, but they are gone now. The chronically overpopulated region is divided; the Asikaxt dwarves (x as in "loch") are a ruling class with broad privileges to divide resources and dictate terms to the lower classes of humans, gnomes, and other, less fortunate dwarves. Wealthy and powerful, Mosanimt XVII, King of Imtaraya, exercises his ambitions on other islands as well, constantly working to expand his territory. His study and innovation in military maneuvers is a boon to his armies and well beyond the abilities of his rivals. 13: Since all cities sit upon mountain tops, the bulk of the cities are actually carved into airtight shafts running down from the mountain top. The dwarves hold special privileges in most cities due to the fact that they are the only ones who can expand the city and do any of the most basic repairs upon the buildings. Cities are arranged in layers with the poorest living at the top and bottom of the shaft either having the thinnest air or the least amount of natural light, while the wealthy live in the layers that have the best of both worlds, and the middle class somewhere in between the two. 14: Below some of these cities are vast caverns that lie below the Fog Line, and are used to cultivate edible subterranean plants. However, this is a risky pursuit, as an untimely rockfall miles away can open up a shaft below the Fog Line, through which the deadly miasma will flood the cave complex. This risk is one factor in why no cities extend below the Fog Line even underground. 15: Rumors among the Descenders indicate that pools of corrosive dark green liquid dot the landscape beneath the kingdom of Imtaraya making sustained expeditions in the miasma unwise. Select Alchemists and many Unmakers note that water, once exposed to sufficient concentrations of miasma, becomes noticeably less viscous and dons notoriously hallucinogenic properties. 16: Not far south of the Grayhair peaks lies the city Neo Oroseros, a city prominently known for its plethora of imposing stone idols depicting gods of the wind and strange tusked beasts. Many traders in the surrounding regions put great value on the charms and smaller idols the legendary stone masons of Neo Oroseros produce. 17: The elven city of Cinaedhdonwei ("dh" as in "there", "ae" as in "pie") is small but well-traveled, sitting as it is in the middle of several intersecting trade routes. King Calonris and Queen Daeadhril sit atop the Starlight Thrones, carefully managing a web of spies and intrigue to keep Cinaedhdonwei outside of the power struggles and ambitions of foreign military powers. The palace guard, though small and perhaps not so cunningly-led as the armies of Imtaraya, are fantastically well-equipped, owing to the wealth of the Starlight Thrones. 18a: Directly south of Cinaedhdnwei lies the Grand temple of the Clerics of Brindarnas, carved from white marble. These clerics are known for their vast knowledge of ritual magic and always carrying a glass sphere filled with air. They are also known for focusing far more on the sky and heavens than the ground and are thus patrons of a number of astronomers. They accept all races, though understandably, few dwarves are in their ranks. Due to their pursuits, they are quite dependant on trade. 18b: Mosamit has been rumored to take out contracts with groups of descenders to collect canisters of the toxic fog in the lowlands. His own people claim that it is to study the fog to find a way to destroy it. The nations near him believe he is developing a way to harness the fog as weapon in a plan to expand his rule over all surrounding islands. 19: Although the miasma means death to anyone who is in it for long, short exposure (seconds to minutes) is not fatal. In some lands, fog-tainted water is a popular drug. Although taboo in many areas, some employ glass bottles filled with the fog as weapons (think a bottle of acid, but not acid). 20: In opposition to the Unmakers is the Church of the Sacred Mist, a cult who see the toxic vapor as divine in origin; something sent by the gods eons ago for the mortal races sins. They try and prevent and sabotage any research carried out by the Unmakers, believing that the hardships brought on by life in the mountains/due to the fog is merely a means for the gods to test the faith and character of mortals. By these reasoning any attempt to lower or remove the toxic vapours is seen as heresy. 21: The edge of the known world is widely regarded to be the small and otherwise unremarkable eastern town of Snown (like known) due to no other mountain being found beyond it and being almost entirely isolated by foot all year. Descenders have noted a vast body of water beyond, and have considered it impassable at the current level of technology. As a result, 'walking to Snown' is usually a synonym with death, which is an annoyance to the actual traders who do. 22: The Grand Temple of Brindarnas lacks the (comparatively) large swaths of agricultural land and mushroom tunnels that many other towns use to produce trade goods, and has no mines, but it has one trade that has allowed it to import a great amount of its resources for generations. Silk. Brindarn silk is produced in staggering quantities and is of a quality that no other crafthall can hope to match; it has great strength and beautiful lustre, soft and light as a breeze, and is used from everything between the clothes of wealthy gentry and the fabric of Balloon Corps gas bags. 23a: The secret to the Brindarn silk trade is their worms; great clusters of which hang in silken cocoons from the ceilings of dark rooms in the temple, shining with a soft inner light like the stars the Clerics of Brindarnas gaze upon each night. The Clerics say that the worms' productivity is the result of careful breeding and the care they lavish on their slimy livestock. Anyone who has visited the Temple during the annual Festival of Moths can attest to the love and attention the Clerics show to the insects; thousands of tiny wings beat the air as the creatures engage in their mating dance, whirling around a bonfire after a day of revelry by the priests. Nesting boxes are laid out in a ritual pattern, eggs are laid, and the moths give themselves to the great bonfire; "Released into a higher, lighter form." say the clerics, "One with the air, now." they affirm, glassy eyes fixed on the rising smoke. Spoilers: Many outsiders have smuggled worms or moths from the Temple, hoping to get rich off the Brindarn silk the Clerics are so famous for; but once they have left the temple, the worms are sluggish and produce poorly, moths that leave the temple mountain are...sad, somehow, will not mate or lay. Some say it is the blessing of Brindarnas. '' The Clerics are oddly silent on their deity, Brindarnas; questions about it are deflected politely but forcefully. There are some who say that Brindarnas does not exist. Some that say it is a dead god, from the world before The Fog, residual power still leaking from its temple. But there are others that say that there is a great cavern, deep below the Temple, older than it by millennia. It is not spoken of, even between members of the priesthood. In this cavern hangs a worm of staggering size, greater and more terrible than any worm has ever been. It spins its shroud of silken webs and plots, awaiting the day when it will finally undergo metamorphosis; lending its fervour to its smallers siblings above, tended to by only the highest ranked of its clerics. It dreams of the greatest lights it will consume in the night sky, and perhaps these dreams resound with those who toil above it, in its temple. '''23b:' Despite 'Fog Bottles' being used as thrown weapons, other weaponizing of the mists tends to fail. The reasons why are unclear, but fog in large quantities tends to have some reaction and change in a harmless, if unpleasant, gas. Also unclear is why the vast quantities of fog do not also express this quality. Some theorize it has to do with elevation and the fog line. Spoilers: It is said by some that, as the fog is an intrinsic part of the world, these elementals occur in their own right, and attack those who would affect the fog.Others say that the fog is a foreign entity, and these 'ghosts' are magical wardens of it. A few mad men, addled from descending, claim they are the spirits of those who have died to the fog, come to seek revenge. Whatever the true origin, Mosamit has found an ancient book by Celey Besaelethril, the first unmaker, which claims that the fog ghosts can be controlled.24: Skipped'' 25: Frequent storms to not far outside Snown occasionally reveal a large marble hand within the fog. Fanatical devotees of the church of the sacred mist frequently take sacrifices,apostates, and volunteers to the hands palm to be consumed. 26: From the Grayhair peaks to the civilized lands of Imtaraya, and even the great city of Cinaedhdonwei a group of pirates, lead by the ex elven general Baron Noveliss, have terrorized the popular trade routes. The pirates evade military action by hiding in abandoned caves close to the fog line and bribing corrupt officials. Rumor has it that Baron Noveliss is manufacturing vast amounts of fog water slowly increasing her share in the illicit trade. 27: The Wandering Stars Monastery in Cerrydwyn, like most fortress-temples of the Order of Panth, is built just off shore. It was raised brick by brick and stone by stone by Panthan brothers and sisters who trained to hold their breath long enough to carry a few blocks, a trowel, and mortarboard through the miasma to add to the foundation. Although construction is long since finished, the members of the order still meditate and exercise to hone their bodies and minds to perform amazing feats. In addition the typical training halls, reflection chambers, sleeping cells, and mundane functional rooms like kitchens, the Wandering Stars Monastery also has a library topped by a celestial observatory. 28: The celestial observatory here the Wandering Stars Monastery is notable for being one of the most well designed observatories not patroned by the Clerics of Brindarnas. It also has a reputation for imparting great wisdom on those who look through it, though this is because very few people every get the opportunity. The Clerics have asked multiple times to 'inspect' it, but are always politely rebuffed. 29: The Penninites are a chivalric order dedicated to helping travellers traverse the mountain tops, only asking for donations to help maintain the ways. With the rise of the Balloon Corp, they have gradually become a far smaller influence on the land as rich traders will hardly ever deal with them. However, to a citizen, King, or peasant, they are widely respected, due to their virtuous behaviour, and great protection from both nature and bandits. They are some of the greatest warriors not directly tied to a single region. 30: While the fog gets extremely thick well below the fog line, the line is a gradual transition for about a mile. There are a few small and hidden communities just below the fog line, and the people in them have adapted to low concentrations of the fog. There are even fewer and rarer communities down just a bit further, and only natives of the hidden communities who grew up in the fog even have a chance of adaptation - and even then, it's slim. 31: These communities take a few different forms, but most are either criminal organizations or ethnic enclaves avoiding cities where their best option would be ghettos. A noticeable exception is the Strongbreath Monks, who operate a monastery and view resistance to the fog as evidence of favor of the gods. Their monastery has three tiers, each lower into the fog than the last, and in the third tier only the most holy monks who have been part of the monastery for generations live. These monks are not celibate, representing a schism from their wider church. 32: The clouds are a mix of phosgene, nitrogen dioxide and chlorine dioxide. Phosgene was one of the gases used in the first world war. It's transparent and smells of freshly cut grass. Nitrogen dioxide is a reddish brown gas with an acrid smell. It is a liquid below 70F. Chlorine dioxide is a yellow-green gas that is mildly corrosive. All of these gases are heavier than air. The mix is very uneven. During winter, most of the nitrogen dioxide pools out, so the clouds change color to cyan. Phosgene - the really toxic one, is heaviest and lowest down. Chlorine dioxide is highly reactive (its used for bleaching paper) in an oxygen rich environment and tends to spend itself, thus during summer, the upper layers are survivable. 33: The Shriekers In the distance above the mountaintops, winged shadows flicker between massive stormclouds. These are the shriekers, kept aloft by the whirling storms and hurricanes that plague the gaps of the mountain nations. They lack legs, only spines that grow on all over their snake-like body, including their four wings. Their mouth is a thick, meaty suction cup with small needle-like teeth like toothpicks surrounding a tiny opening to the creature's throat. These teeth vibrate, spinning around faster than the eye can see, making a high-pitched whine (think "blender on its highest setting") as they gorge on any limb they can suckle on to. 34: Shriekers vary in size, each with their own identifying names. The smallest are known as Vipers, and they come in swarms which can tear a body apart within minutes, while the larger Pythons tend to dive into scuffles that are known to empty ships of their crew in the worst of battles, leaving empty balloons for scavengers to find. 35: Shriekers cannot touch the toxic fog- even though most of their food tends to float on it. The moment a shrieker even brushes a wing against it, the shrieker has minutes left before it dies. The creature breathes like an insect- taking in oxygen from its skin, so when it inhales the fog, its internal organs dissolve when the poison reaches them. Despite this, shreikers have foolishly dove toward the ships down below- and succeeded in killing thousands in spite of their weakness. 36: A popular tourist spot for the elite and traveling traders all across the land, the Naga Viper Hot Springs are one of the few lowlands to have consistent enough winds to allow year round access. The springs are situated around Shrieker Peak, a dormant volcano. The springs are a wonderful place to bathe and relax, and also has the largest access to naturally occurring miasma-infused water. Baron Noveliss and his ilk have taken advantage of this and set up a racket, charging exorbitant amounts to bathe and collect the drug. 37: Recently however, a group of dissenting Sacred Mist cultists has taken up residence at the Naga Viper springs. This schism has many names as they lack central leadership (for now), but the Church proper has deemed them The Damned. The Damned are rather nihilistic and believe the miasma to be not only a punishment from the gods, but an attempt to wipe humanity off the globe for good. They believe death by the miasma to be inevitable, and revel in the hallucinogenic properties of the springs. 38: Some say that the increased heat in the equatorial regions make miasma storms too common for cities to flourish, however the Ajuran mountain states still stand. Massive hollowing operations by engineers, miners and stone weavers have shielded the inhabitants from destructive miasma hurricanes. On the rare occasions traders successfully make their way to the city they are welcome to exchange books,glassware, and salt for tropical crops(coca, coffee, and mango) all of which are considered luxuries in the larger kingdoms. 39: While the Cult of the sacred mists has been heavily Proselytizing the within the Ajuran cities the native pre historical (pre fog) religion remains a powerful force. The Oracles of Aju, The Thousand Armed One, frequently clash against cultists of many types and cement their authority over the citizens through a series of byzantine societal codes. 40: A recap of the known world. ☀http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21407859&postcount=35 41: The Bubbling Sea can be found the north. It is called so because of "bubble's of fresh air" (perhaps more accurately described as patches of less dense fog) that rise up through to the fog line. These bubbles are hot, and heat up the surrounding fog as well. The fog is hot enough to damage the Balloon Corp. vessels if they travel too far in. The Balloon Corps' influence is weaker here as a result but the area has been a traditional stronghold of the Agersians. Recently the Agersians' strength has waned slightly as so much of the area has already been made so fertile. They are still the major power in the area. 42: The Silent Walkers are said to be people immune to the fog. They are tales of people walking out and back into the fog without any protection. The common feature is that they either do not speak or speak only a little with a completely calm voice. Official explanations are that this is a particular set of symptoms caused by the late stages of fog poisoning. 43: To most of the world, the cause of the bubbling sea is unknown -- left over magic that ruined the world, where the fog originates, some great battle beneath the fog... none of them are quite right of course. The real reason, is a group of overly active volcanoes, just cresting above the water in an area that used to be open water. Massive tectonic activity, huge magma flows, and carnage lie deep below the fog. Carnage that would bring about catastrophic death if people were living like they did before the Fog came (If only people knew how safe the Fog there made them...) By the time the plumes of ash and heat reach the fog line they turn into 'relatively' harmless bubbles of heat. These bubbles of heat lead to bubbles of fog though, and as everyone knows, the fog is anything but harmless. '''44: '''The Shrouded Ones. To the far south, lies a crescent chain of dormant volcanic peaks known as the Fog's Teeth. In spite of the arctic environment, a mysterious people has established themselves deep within the massive steam-filled caverns that run through the mountains. Known only as the Shrouded Ones, they are often accused of the disappearances of countless ships and settlements. After one of their ships is seen leaving an area, only abandoned ports and villages can be found and passing traders never arrive at their destination. It's commonly believed that these are just stories to scare traders away and jack prices up. There are rumors in black market and pirate communities that the Shrouded Ones can be dealt with. Trade with them is limited, but sometimes a ship of theirs can be found near pirate ports or if one is feeling particularly lucky, one could venture to the Fog's Teeth and meet them there. Communication can be a challenge since they do not speak any of the civilized tongues. Currency and typical trade goods seem to mean nothing to them, they only accept people as payment, preferably healthy and undamaged, but they will accept lower quality individuals for less valuable goods. In return the Shrouded Ones offer many things: Strange mechanisms of unknown purpose, advanced weaponry and armor with ornate designs, potent elixirs and teas, and strange meat pies that taste similar to, but not quite li